1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to ice makers and, more particularly, to an ice maker capable of efficiently making and removing ice cubes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an ice maker is installed in a refrigerator or a vending machine to make ice cubes with water supplied to the ice maker.
A conventional ice maker includes drive and driven pulleys spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. An ice making conveyor is wrapped around the drive and driven pulleys, and is provided with a plurality of ice making parts to contain water therein. Further, a heater is installed in an interior of the ice making conveyor to apply heat to lower ice making parts which face downward, thus removing the ice cubes from the lower ice making parts.
Thus, when the ice cubes are formed in the ice making parts which face upward, the ice making conveyor is moved by the drive and driven pulleys to make the ice making parts having the ice cubes face downward. Thereafter, electricity is applied to the heater to generate heat. The ice cubes are removed from the ice making parts by the heat.
However, the conventional ice maker has a problem in that the heat generated by the heater affects the upper ice making parts in which the ice cubes are being formed, as well as the lower ice making parts, thus it takes longer time to form the ice cubes in the upper ice making parts.